1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices and, more particularly, to sensors used for sensing physiological parameters of a patient.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In the field of medicine, doctors often desire to monitor certain physiological characteristics of their patients. Accordingly, a wide variety of devices have been developed for monitoring many such characteristics of a patient. Such devices provide doctors and other healthcare personnel with the information they need to provide the best possible healthcare for their patients. As a result, such monitoring devices have become an indispensable part of modern medicine.
Physiological characteristics that physicians may desire to monitor include constituents of the blood and tissue, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. For example, abnormal levels of carbon dioxide in the blood may be related to perfusion problems. Thus, assessment of carbon dioxide levels may be useful for diagnosing a variety of clinical states related to the circulation. Carbon dioxide and other blood constituents may be directly measured by taking a blood sample, or may be indirectly measured by assessing the concentration of those constituents in the tissue or respiratory gases. For example, carbon dioxide in the bloodstream equilibrates rapidly with carbon dioxide in the lungs, and the partial pressure of the carbon dioxide in the lungs approaches the amount in the blood during each breath. Accordingly, physicians often monitor respiratory gases during breathing in order to estimate the carbon dioxide levels in the blood.
However, estimation of carbon dioxide by respiratory gas analysis has certain disadvantages. It is often inconvenient to measure carbon dioxide in samples collected from an intubation tube or cannula. Although these methods are considered to be noninvasive, as the surface of the skin is not breached, the insertion of such devices may cause discomfort for the patient. Further, the insertion and operation of such devices also involves the assistance of skilled medical personnel.
Carbon dioxide in the blood that diffuses into the tissue may also be measured transcutaneously by sensors placed against a patient's skin. While these sensors are easier to use than respiratory gas sensors, they also are associated with certain disadvantages. For example, these sensors may operate by capturing a volume of carbon dioxide gas as it dissolves out of the skin. Thus, such sensors may involve a certain time delay before a sufficient gas volume has been captured. Other such sensors may operate by measuring carbon dioxide that diffuses into mucosal secretions. However, such secretions may also contain trace amounts of carbon dioxide from the environment, which may interfere with tissue carbon dioxide measurements.